Teasing My 7 Hot Alpha Stepbrothers at the Royal Academy novel · Chapter 15 of 32

Chapter 15: Third Brother

"Say it again," I whispered.

"Wolfsbane. I ran it twice." Roxy's voice was shaking.

"A spoonful a day of this, for months. That's not a tonic. That's a slow leash."

"Send me the printout."

"Already did. What are you going to do?"

"Tell the one person who won't want to hear it."

My phone buzzed with the photo while she was still talking.

Two columns of numbers and one line circled in red.

I got up in my sleep shirt and went through the bathroom.

Nero's door was dark. I could hear him breathing through it, slow and deep.

Hadrian's door had a line of lamplight under it.

I knocked once and went in without waiting.

He was sitting up in bed with a stack of duty rosters and a pen. Gray T-shirt. Reading glasses I'd never seen.

He took them off when he saw my face.

"What happened?"

I held out my phone.

He read it.

Then he read it again, slower, his thumb moving down the column.

"Where did the sample come from?"

"October's crate. Sealed. I took it out of the study this afternoon while Cash was counting the old ones."

"Cash was here."

"Cash knew how much should be left in each bottle."

Hadrian set the phone face down on the blanket very carefully.

He didn't say anything for a long time.

"March," he said. "I drove him there myself. At night. I held the door."

"You didn't know."

"I told him it was the only doctor we could trust." His voice cracked.

"Every month I watched Cash carry that crate through our front door, and I thanked him."

I sat on the edge of the bed.

"You believe me."

"I believed you on the landing," he said. "I didn't want to. If you were right, I did this."

"Delacorte did this."

"I gave him the key."

I took his hand. It was cold.

"We stop it tomorrow," I said. "Before his morning spoon."

"Before his morning spoon," he said.

He turned his hand over under mine and held on.

Then he looked at me, and the room changed.

"I've broken every rule I have for my father," he said quietly. "I lied to my brothers. I lied to my company. I lied to my King."

"I know."

"The pact is the one thing he asked me for that I could actually keep."

"Then keep it," I said. "I'm not asking you to break it. Not for the trial. Not for anything."

I meant it.

I started to stand.

He didn't let go of my hand.

"Romilly."

"What?"

"I put my hand on your heart in that room and walked away. I've walked past your door every night since."

His eyes had gone gold at the edges.

"I don't want to keep it."

"Then say so. Out loud. So I know it's you and not the night you're having."

"I want you," Hadrian said. "Not your wolf. Not your trial. You. Since the doorway."

"Yes," I said.

He pulled me down to him.

He kissed me for the first time.

Slow. Careful at first, like he was checking every inch was really allowed.

Then his hand came up into my hair, and he wasn't careful.

His mouth found mine again before I could answer with anything but a sound.

The kiss turned rough at the edges, his hand fisting in my hair, tugging my head back just enough to open me to him.

I grabbed the front of his T-shirt and held on.

He made a low noise against my lips, half growl, half relief.

"You have no idea," he said, "how many times I've stood outside your door."

"I've heard you."

"I know." His teeth scraped my lower lip. "I wanted you to."

That confession went straight down my spine and settled between my legs.

He pulled back just enough to look at me.

Gold rimmed his green eyes, and his chest was already heaving.

"Tell me what you want, Romilly."

"You."

"You have me." His thumb traced my jaw. "Be specific."

My face went hot, but I didn't look away.

"I want you to stop being careful."

The sound he made then was nothing like careful.

He yanked my sleep shirt up and over my head in one motion.

Cool air hit my bare skin, but his hands were already there, big and warm, spanning my ribs.

"Look at you," he said, low and rough. "I've thought about this every night since the doorway."

"You walked away."

"I'm not walking away now." He pushed me back onto the bed and came down over me.

The gray wool blanket was rough against my back.

He kissed down my collarbone, teeth scraping, but never near my throat.

I arched up into him, and he made another one of those broken noises.

His mouth closed over my breast, hot and wet, and my whole body jerked.

"Hadrian."

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